Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

blog, the, 2026, with, scbwi, to, for, and, august, this, team, virtual, summer, conference, writing, of, in, fiction, what, panel, sunday, saturday, subscribe, search, archive, followers, thank, you, joining, wrap, up, awards, hard, history, how, confront, mis, representation, past, ann, bausum, closing, keynote, brian, selznick, hero, journey, retooling, mythic, structure, fantasy, science, eliot, schrefer, state, children, publishing, selling, not, maya, gartner, making, an, emotional, impact, historical, graphic, novel, maria, van, lieshout, comics, 101, cecil, castelluci,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (276), and (164), with (57), that (56), you (47), for (46), book (46), was (46), her (45), she (36), his (35), this (32), what (31), about (28), from (27), but (26), books (25), can (25), your (24), story (23), comics (22), how (22), scbwi (22), when (22), brian (21), time (21), maria (21), writing (19), panel (18), #august (17), novel (17), conference (17), all (17), will (17), 2026 (16), are (16), out (16), #graphic (16), which (16), had (16), cecil (15), who (15), one (15), january (14), february (14), july (14), they (14), award (14), stories (14), has (14), not (14), children (13), into (13), journey (12), virtual (12), have (12), life (12), art (12), where (12), two (11), summer (11), new (11), work (11), then (11), maya (11), hero (10), history (10), comments (10), were (10), world (10), him (10), wrong (10), ann (10), october (9), selznick (9), year (9), been (9), other (9), elements (9), years (9), mother (9), may (8), state (8), structure (8), historical (8), blog (8), labels (8), scbwisummer26 (8), posted (8), artist (8), make (8), help (8), like (8), their (8), painting (8), through (8), something (8), portfolio (8), december (7), november (7), emotional (7), impact (7), fiction (7), keynote (7), justin (7), campbell (7), home (7), after (7), things (7), those (7), comic (7), found (7), being (7), great (7), different (7), van (7), blackbird (7), inspired (7), five (7), best (7), session (7), these (7), would (7), first (7), phaidon (7), congratulations (7), publishing (6), making (6), awards (6), com (6), more (6), picture (6), panels (6), want (6), there (6), script (6), get (6), big (6), working (6), only (6), started (6), amsterdam (6), during (6), family (6), made (6), young (6), think (6), felt (6), narrative (6), war (6), next (6), also (6), hugo (6), editor (5), 101 (5), closing (5), see (5), try (5), people (5), winning (5), york (5), times (5), find (5), read (5), really (5), illustrator (5), some (5), page (5), might (5), most (5), readers (5), told (5), lieshout (5), design (5), awarded (5), another (5), saw (5), series (5), our (5), houdini (5), again (5), april (4), day (4), selling (4), image (4), jaime (4), temairik (4), posts (4), way (4), them (4), feel (4), much (4), could (4), author (4), novels (4), written (4), three (4), www (4), words (4), lot (4), than (4), using (4), many (4), illustrators (4), text (4), because (4), draw (4), create (4), publisher (4), down (4), very (4), every (4), moment (4), four (4), tell (4), interactive (4), over (4), song (4), events (4), own (4), received (4), honor (4), began (4), old (4), grew (4), exploring (4), movie (4), going (4), nonfiction (4), replays (4), org (4), kid (4), look (4), eliot (4), archetypes (4), often (4), away (4), feedback (4), images (4), invention (4), cabret (4), winner (4), idea (4), ended (4), able (4), loved (4), theme (3), june (3), march (3), sarah (3), agents (3), wrap (3), thank (3), joining (3), jolie (3), team (3), atom (3), castelluci (3), castellucci (3), scene (3), better (3), information (3), form (3), table (3), boy (3), hope (3), short (3), opera (3), let (3), shares (3), layout (3), storytelling (3), continued (3), write (3), too (3), share (3), wood (3), always (3), makes (3), play (3), remember (3), pages (3), fill (3), certain (3), start (3), important (3), writer (3), should (3), example (3), showing (3), reader (3), passage (3), just (3), come (3), long (3), sequential (3), global (3), loves (3), looking (3), well (3), formats (3), twenty (3), spent (3), born (3), printz (3), san (3), husband (3), inspiring (3), thing (3), show (3), must (3), discovered (3), friend (3), thought (3), lost (3), grandparents (3), happened (3), asked (3), does (3), once (3), artists (3), back (3), love (3), moments (3), soon (3), finding (3), led (3), discover (3), novelty (3), gartner (3), random (3), associate (3), part (3), tips (3), until (3), september (3), illustrated (3), member (3), before (3), office (3), project (3), meetings (3), schrefer (3), post (3), call (3), did (3), turn (3), thinking (3), thebrianselznick (3), wanted (3), turning (3), realized (3), instincts (3), happens (3), automaton (3), introduced (3), six (3), built (3), kaleidoscope (3), civil (3), confronting (3), phone (3), provide (3), guidance (3), showcased (3), booth (3), 2027 (3), bologna (3), fair (3), receive (3), winners (3), scholarship (3), 2010 (2), 2011 (2), 119 (2), 2018 (2), 2021 (2), 2023 (2), baker (2), questions (2), retooling (2), mythic (2), hard (2), confront (2), mis (2), stekly (2), subscribe (2), older (2), communicate (2), free (2), give (2), pacing (2), leave (2), open (2), collaborative (2), creation (2), dialogue (2), map (2), visually (2), bestselling (2), nominated (2), including (2), changing (2), girl (2), plain (2), female (2), newest (2), dark (2), published (2), magazine (2), literary (2), known (2), librettos (2), andre (2), ristic (2), pictures (2), visual (2), color (2), explore (2), experiment (2), onto (2), don (2), notes (2), resource (2), helpful (2), pre (2), writes (2), check (2), need (2), break (2), types (2), scripts (2), full (2), isn (2), collaborator (2), frank (2), miller (2), writings (2), examples (2), used (2), itself (2), learn (2), doesn (2), dove (2), telling (2), got (2), both (2), career (2), worked (2), upon (2), netherlands (2), resistance (2), golden (2), kite (2), national (2), believe (2), heroic (2), said (2), framing (2), background (2), took (2), become (2), pulled (2), together (2), named (2), document (2), grandfather (2), grandparent (2), last (2), line (2), heard (2), since (2), wartime (2), speak (2), later (2), winter (2), run (2), goes (2), take (2), days (2), portrait (2), twice (2), mom (2), showed (2), age (2), door (2), uncle (2), between (2), drawing (2), creating (2), behind (2), watch (2), developed (2), personal (2), decided (2), late (2), under (2), penguin (2), house (2), unique (2), ages (2), spread (2), recipe (2), view (2), hear (2), rest (2), answers (2), along (2), still (2), register (2), sessions (2), available (2), mid (2), https (2), innovative (2), kids (2), sue (2), lowell (2), gallion (2), geography (2), temika (2), asks (2), company (2), even (2), amazing (2), countries (2), friends (2), colleagues (2), same (2), titles (2), adult (2), science (2), protagonist (2), adventure (2), threshold (2), meeting (2), mentor (2), tried (2), herald (2), pushing (2), far (2), consider (2), little (2), tree (2), diego (2), doorway (2), right (2), freshman (2), box (2), real (2), institute (2), became (2), attention (2), almost (2), mind (2), true (2), turned (2), instinct (2), wasn (2), pandemic (2), abstract (2), trapped (2), couldn (2), backwards (2), gone (2), himself (2), control (2), media (2), literacy (2), bausum (2), virginia (2), false (2), south (2), past (2), histories (2), include (2), primary (2), language (2), cause (2), showcase (2), gold (2), directors (2), renewal (2), membership (2), silver (2), czacarri (2), muli (2), director (2), bronze (2), accolade (2), count (2), ethereal, powered, blogger, followers, 188, 270, 2009, 226, 158, 167, 2012, 139, 2013, 148, 2014, 156, 2015, 2016, 135, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2024, 2025, welcome, pub, rep, conf, archive, click, banner, above, visit, search, building, scaffolding, allow, interpret, suggestion, adaption, truly, avoid, talking, drama, exciting, eisner, shade, proof, janes, beasts, furies, batgirl, star, wars, hyperspace, odd, duck, cli, punk, shifting, earth, horse, uncanny, strange, horizons, tor, anthologies, former, seaskull, canadian, 90s, indie, bands, bite, nerdy, incorporating, les, aventures, madame, merveille, hockey, noir, metternich, cecilcastellucci, lean, trust, vocabulary, animals, convention, enter, style, silence, sound, techniques, bring, mindful, limits, revise, getting, thumbnail, establish, setting, section, airmeet, pdf, wally, interesting, variety, grid, turns, cliffhangers, visualize, prep, sure, add, buffer, starts, opens, doc, simply, plot, double, amount, dictated, begin, slipping, loose, beat, sheet, number, descriptions, etc, descriptive, leaving, breakdown, format, moved, opposed, claire, roe, scientist, initial, chemical, jumps, result, newly, drastic, effects, its, pheromone, highlighted, emphasize, tension, device, slow, knight, returns, scott, mccloud, principles, brilliant, guidebook, breaking, understanding, simple, exercise, anyone, starting, set, conflict, twist, resolution, space, challenges, rely, gaps, considers, expand, shrink, understands, hold, hands, navigate, filling, playing, molding, tool, heavy, marrying, illustration, having, performative, jane, head, clue, adapt, piece, prose, curious, workshop, basics, strengths, sequentially, overview, gain, insight, plotting, lieshou, joined, ago, exclusive, fifteen, weren, necessarily, breakouts, stumbled, raised, wwii, partly, affected, starred, reviews, several, lists, michael, recognizes, adults, listed, lives, francisco, bay, area, son, vanlieshoutstudio, sharing, embracing, pretty, act, acts, rarely, performed, person, rewatching, myself, interiors, detailed, process, why, chose, colors, perspectives, postures, huge, risk, helped, evoke, emotions, foundation, weaving, present, dissimilar, chapters, third, print, man, walraven, hall, detailing, happening, springboard, second, hoyte, experienced, fritz, grandpa, saved, documents, described, bombing, everything, detail, dutch, except, nothing, dies, difficult, passing, fortunately, treasures, hunger, extremely, cold, coal, food, rationed, singing, realize, grandmother, yes, realizes, sings, beautifully, despite, 26th, 1944, hometown, bombed, destroying, fifty, houses, destroyed, neighbors, perishing, usually, nap, lunch, attack, returned, scavenge, destruction, intact, repaints, finds, symbolic, spare, backside, bigger, explained, small, oval, actually, large, broke, say, elementary, school, aunt, wonderful, memories, running, forth, homes, typing, typewriter, instilled, arts, preface, brimming, facts, gems, level, barely, scratch, surface, chance, recommend, replay, spiegelman, marjane, satrapi, iranian, revolution, endured, overcame, persepolis, maus, heart, experiences, absolutely, recoved, such, reception, hopes, encouragement, bloomers, talk, nazi, occupation, group, off, greatest, bank, heist, european, created, facial, expressions, posture, camera, angle, lettering, speech, balloons, picturebooks, walker, now, press, specializes, acquiring, non, range, board, gift, cookies, sifter, sifts, lotte, nieminen, cook, panelists, shared, additional, submitting, authors, sara, gillingham, isabel, thomas, complete, guide, periodic, technically, playful, lavishly, designed, title, pop, lisk, feng, focus, predicting, trends, concept, driven, reinforces, success, globe, shaped, younger, choose, reminds, traditionally, receives, middle, grade, romantasy, submission, forte, hopefully, spelled, phorte, internally, brought, interested, creators, obsessed, studio, ghibli, classmates, continues, globally, writers, delight, audiences, markets, based, london, offices, place, week, manages, mornings, currently, fall, 2028, afternoons, video, moderator, grooms, describe, typical, cuppa, finalist, literature, stonewall, lgbtqia, teen, ala, naming, choice, called, dazzling, hearted, appeared, sierra, usatoday, nautilus, washington, progress, contain, refuses, refection, return, elixir, resurrection, road, reward, ordeal, approach, inmost, cave, tests, allies, enemies, crossing, feels, skip, refusal, ordinary, stages, identify, least, riddled, tricksters, mentors, sight, never, character, shapeshifters, aplenty, reflection, characters, slightly, trickster, shadow, shapeshifter, guardian, challenge, partners, trying, balance, enough, bit, direction, incorporate, others, classically, granted, western, culture, replicate, without, stale, fantasy, breakout, networking, coffee, lounge, rejoined, introduce, speaker, incomparable, extraordinary, storyteller, whose, blend, captivated, transformative, expansive, changed, privilege, listen, caldecott, medal, basis, oscar, directed, martin, scorsese, wonderstruck, name, todd, haynes, steven, spielberg, grammy, audiobook, narrated, meryl, streep, queer, romance, divide, california, brooklyn, website, instagram, exactly, walk, mail, editors, approached, publish, change, parts, budge, knopf, clear, vision, lesson, standing, know, recognize, college, growing, class, prompt, wrote, meet, graduation, shutting, face, revisit, rebelled, against, revamped, segued, experience, following, allowing, exact, ready, doing, tons, research, franklin, broken, basement, mechanical, genius, inspiration, fixed, poems, languages, thrilling, beautiful, single, allows, aware, physical, bringing, momentous, remy, charlip, filmmaker, georges, méliès, collection, automatons, gaby, instantly, climbing, machines, fixing, hence, collision, bookmaking, moviemaking, finally, edison, eve, good, maurice, sendak, reading, care, package, none, potential, basically, tells, visited, prior, afraid, discoveries, spirit, inventions, came, explored, taking, further, stopped, randomly, trusted, happen, opening, leaves, rather, slowly, connections, illustrations, elevate, exploration, expression, acknowledging, letting, focusing, trusting, around, gothic, quite, revisited, separated, didn, cut, left, feelings, separation, loneliness, postcards, carving, interacting, tired, eventually, paintings, teachers, existed, within, side, stepping, follow, height, nyc, while, uncertainty, seeing, each, weighed, point, fathom, anything, sign, child, placed, window, looked, few, wrongs, needed, toward, thirty, seven, drive, søren, kierkegaard, understood, lived, forwards, awry, grief, loss, confusion, becoming, beginning, though, personally, knows, handles, reflecting, humans, popped, given, helpless, scared, smaller, scale, rights, southern, wisconsin, lexington, textbooks, lore, distorted, ways, misinformation, pay, grown, learned, actual, compelled, harsh, truths, accompanying, slideshow, went, chapter, source, quotes, related, editorial, imagery, authorial, voice, misrepresented, culturally, sanctioned, propaganda, context, necessary, succeed, recommendations, use, breadcrumbs, importance, paid, usage, sensitive, topics, passages, walks, organizes, disparate, sources, system, sidebars, confederacy, white, lies, rewrote, representation, kristen, uroda, admission, agent, rita, emmeline, forrestal, sgervay, incredible, friendships, across, travels, creativity, grateful, john, lennon, smiles, tears, stephen, mooser, susanne, gervay, bipoc, huong, nguyen, tasha, brision, student, yassaman, emami, generosity, general, kala, willette, pamela, agboga, carla, colagrosso, deepa, jain, tamara, tamera, norwood, susie, rios, lily, rong, conclusion, announced, diamond, digital, content, ceremony, saturday, word, resources, 13th, absolute, blast, whether, super, event, sunday, here, socials, updates, countdowns, live, blogging, official,

Text of the page (random words):
rong when asked about what he wanted to speak about the theme of what s wrong popped into his mind given the state of the world that can make us feel helpless and scared he couldn t help up think what s wrong but soon found himself thinking on a much smaller scale about his own life and work and times that he felt something had gone wrong he realized that every time something had gone awry and he found himself in a state of grief loss or confusion down the line the very thing he thought had happened ended up becoming the beginning of something new though he can t control what happens to the world and often what happens to him personally he knows he can try to control how he handles it he does this by reflecting and turning his life into a narrative which we so often do as humans life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards søren kierkegaard brian then took us on a journey backwards through three books he has made over his thirty seven year career to help drive home the theme of what s wrong through these books we looked at a few moments of wrongs that turned into moments most needed pushing him toward something new we began with his book kaleidoscope a book he developed at the height of the pandemic he was trapped in nyc while his husband was trapped in san diego and the uncertainty of seeing each other weighed down on him to the point where he couldn t fathom creating anything then he saw a sign written by a child placed in their window let s make art which got him going again he started with old postcards that he had drawing carving and interacting with he soon started to explore abstract art tired of painting what he saw and started painting what he felt eventually he discovered that these abstract paintings were his teachers and that they existed within his instinct side stepping thinking so he tried to follow his instincts around this time brian was also working on another illustrated novel inspired by gothic novels for about five years that just wasn t quite working but after those four painting brian revisited it and separated all the things he loved from what he didn t love in the writing he cut almost 96 of it and a new life for his work began this left him with random things but those things became a series of short stories exploring his feelings of separation and loneliness during the pandemic some of the stories stopped randomly which felt wrong but he trusted his instinct let it happen opening a new world of narrative in his work that leaves you with questions rather than answers then slowly he made connections for these stories and then made illustrations to elevate this new exploration of his expression in acknowledging the part of his story that wasn t working and then letting them go and focusing on what it was that i love and trusting my instincts he was able to create his book kaleidoscope kaleidoscope being built out of the books before it brian next explored the invention of hugo cabret taking us just a little further back also born from a series of things that he was told would be wrong or he was afraid would be wrong or felt wrong turned out to be the things that led to his great discoveries in the spirit of the invention of hugo cabret brian s inventions were built on the history of all of the books that came before him that he loved his good friend the late maurice sendak after reading a care package of brian s books told brian that you can draw which isn t true of most illustrators but none of these books show the potential in you that i see in you basically make the book you want to make make the book that tells the story that you want to tell this made him think what is a story that i could write again he visited an idea he had years prior inspired by the filmmaker georges méliès who brian discovered had a collection of automatons from the book edison s eve by gaby wood he instantly saw almost like a movie in his mind a boy climbing through machines finding one and fixing it he spent the next three years exploring this idea to try and discover who that boy was and his story hence the invention of hugo cabret was born the collision of bookmaking and moviemaking inspired him and he finally realized that for the first time a thrilling picture book not only makes beautiful single images or sequential images but also allows us to become aware of a book a unique physical structure by bringing our attention once again to that momentous moment the turning of the page remy charlip the story grew and grew and after doing tons of research he found a real automaton at the franklin institute that was broken in a basement where when introduced to a real mechanical genius who became a big inspiration for hugo introduced him to the institute where he fixed the automaton this automaton was able to draw six different pictures and three poems in two languages after that experience brian realized that when you re really following your instincts and you re allowing the world to come to you again and again the exact thing that you need happens to show up but you ll have to be ready for it which segued to the houdini box his very first book the houdini box began as a project he did in college when he was a freshman growing up he loved houdini so with houdini as the class prompt he wrote a story about a kid who wanted to meet houdini something he would have loved to do as a kid when he was about 24 or so post graduation and after another series of door shutting in his face he decided to revisit the thought of being a children s book writer and illustrator something he rebelled against and revamped his freshman year project he started to mail them to different editors and he was approached by one editor who wanted to publish the book but brian would have to change parts of the book brian did not budge and ended up turning down the editor knopf ended up publishing the book and his clear vision was able to be published in the way he saw the narrative but it was a lesson in standing up for what you know is right with your work but also to recognize when another s idea is better what s wrong can be the doorway to finding exactly what s right and it s even better when we can walk through that doorway together brian selznick about brian selznick brian selznick is the author and illustrator of many books for children including the invention of hugo cabret winner of the caldecott medal and the basis for the oscar winning movie hugo directed by martin scorsese his book wonderstruck was made into a movie of the same name by todd haynes his book big tree inspired by an idea from steven spielberg was named one of the best books of 2023 by the new york times the grammy nominated audiobook of big tree is narrated by meryl streep his newest book run away with me is his first queer young adult romance brian and his husband divide their time between san diego california and brooklyn new york website www thebrianselznick com instagram thebrianselznick thebrianselznick com posted by justin campbell at 5 00 pm no comments labels scbwisummer26 summer conference brian selznick closing keynote scbwi the hero s journey retooling mythic structure in fantasy and science fiction with eliot schrefer eliot schrefer is a new york times bestselling author has twice been a finalist for the national book award for young people s literature received the stonewall honor for best lgbtqia teen book and received the printz honor for best young adult book from the ala in naming him an editor s choice the new york times has called his work dazzling big hearted his science writing has appeared in discover sierra usatoday nautilus and the washington post magazine we don t have the hero s journey it has us in western culture the hero s journey is the structure we can all turn to but if we replicate it without thinking about it we might create stale stories so what can we do incorporate others who have classically not been granted the hero s journey examples we can look the other direction consider a different narrative form an example you can also do a little bit of both challenge what the hero s journey should look like feedback partners are helpful in this trying to find the balance of pushing far enough but not too far two titles to consider archetypes of the journey hero mentor threshold guardian herald shapeshifter shadow trickster we can t get away from archetypes but we can think about how our characters might break away from them slightly a reflection on archetypes identify which archetypes you turn to most often in your own writing which do you turn to least often are your narrative riddled with tricksters but no mentors in sight never tried a herald character but there are shapeshifters aplenty the stages of the journey the ordinary world the call to adventure the refusal of the call meeting with a mentor one that eliot feels we can skip crossing the first threshold tests allies enemies approach the inmost cave the ordeal the reward the road back resurrection return with the elixir a refection on the hero s journey does your work in progress contain a moment when the protagonist refuses the call to adventure what would it look like if your protagonist did to read about the hero s journey posted by cuppa jolie at 2 33 pm no comments labels scbwisummer26 eliot schrefer the hero s journey state of children s publishing what s selling and what s not maya gartner maya gartner has worked in children s books at walker penguin random house and now as an associate publisher at phaidon press where she s been since 2021 she specializes in acquiring unique art and design led non fiction children s books for children ages 0 14 in a range of formats board books novelty books picture books and gift books moderator temika grooms asks maya to describe a typical day in the life as an associate publisher maya is based in london phaidon is a global company with offices all over the place where she goes into the office 3 days a week she loves going into the office because she loves to see her colleagues maya project manages about 20 books at the same time and mornings are when she is working on these titles currently those publishing out into fall of 2028 afternoons are when she has video meetings with her ny office colleagues maya was brought up in four different countries and is interested in stories and creators from all over the world as a kid she was obsessed with studio ghibli before it was well known to her friends and classmates as a publisher maya continues to look globally for artists and writers who might delight kid audiences in different countries and markets temika asks the panel how they choose what s going to be next and maya reminds us that phaidon is traditionally an art book company so even if she receives an amazing middle grade or ya romantasy novel submission that is not phaidon s forte hopefully spelled phorte internally phaidon kids doesn t focus on predicting trends but on publishing concept driven formats where the design reinforces the story an example maya shares is the our world book by scbwi success story and member sue lowell gallion which is a globe shaped geography book for younger readers our world a first book of geography by sue lowell gallion illustrated by lisk feng maya is looking for books that are technically innovative and playful she shares a lavishly designed book all about the table of elements for older kids as well as phaidon children s best selling title an interactive recipe book series with novelty pop up elements exploring the elements a complete guide to the periodic table by sara gillingham with words by isabel thomas panelists shared additional tips about submitting what they were looking for and how they find authors and illustrators to view this session and hear the rest of their answers along with every other conference session you can still register at https www scbwi org events virtual summer conference 2026 replays of the sessions will be available until mid september 2026 spread from cookies an interactive recipe book the sifter really sifts part of the cook in a book series by lotte nieminen posted by jaime temairik at 1 18 pm no comments labels illustrators nonfiction picturebooks scbwisummer26 editor panel maya gartner novelty books phaidon making an emotional impact historical fiction in a graphic novel with maria van lieshout making an emotional impact historical fiction in a graphic novel with maria van lieshout maria will talk about how finding her grandparents writings about life under nazi occupation led to her discover that a group of artists had pulled off the greatest bank heist in european history and how this inspired her graphic novel song of a blackbird she will also share how she created emotional impact in the panels of the graphic novel using facial expressions posture color framing camera angle lettering and speech balloons maria van lieshou who joined scbwi twenty years ago started her career in design and spent twenty years working exclusive on picture books she had worked on over fifteen picture books that weren t necessarily breakouts when she stumbled upon the story for song of a blackbird in 2011 she decided to make this story into a graphic novel and this novel has been life changing she has received the golden kite award and a printz honor it was the first time in twenty five years that she has recoved such great reception which she hopes is an encouragement to those out there who might be late bloomers if the book is a personal book if it is written from the heart from personal experiences then it is absolutely going to be an important emotional story maria inspired by maus by art spiegelman and persepolis by marjane satrapi a story about the iranian revolution maria developed song of a blackbird from stories of her background and the history of what her family endured and overcame i would like to preface that this session was brimming with historical facts literary gems inspiring and movie level moments that i could barely scratch the surface of so if you get the chance i recommend watch the replay as soon as you can story behind the book maria grew up in the netherlands when she was young say pre k elementary school age she spent a lot of time at her grandparents home in amsterdam which was next door to her aunt and uncle s home who were artists she has wonderful memories of running back and forth between their homes drawing typing on her uncle s old typewriter and exploring which instilled a love for not only amsterdam but for the arts and creating as her grandparent s home is where she saw a portrait of her mom and when she asked about it her mom showed maria the backside of the painting of it and it showed a much bigger painting of her she explained that the painting had not always been small and oval but once upon a time it was actually a large painting the painting was from the war broke out in amsterdam when her mother was about five years ol...